Madurai: The Madurai Bench of the High Court said that if the government does not fulfill the demand, people will definitely protest.
In a petition filed before the Madurai Bench of the High Court, Bhaskaran of Burma Colony, Ammappatti Santhoshkannan, Rajendran of Nagappanpatti, Muthusamy, and Kalyana Sundaram stated: In Thirupathur taluk, waterbody areas in the villages of Ammappatti and Nagappanpatti have been encroached upon.
Orders should be issued to remove these encroachments and take appropriate action to ensure the smooth inflow and outflow of water to the Chinnakosavan tank, Periya Kosavan tank, and Potta tank. This was stated in the petition.
The petition was heard by the bench of Judges G.R. Swaminathan and P. Pugazhendi. On behalf of the petitioners, it was stated, “A private company has set up a solar power plant on 65 acres of land. To reach this plant, they have encroached upon the water catchment area and laid a dirt road.
At the bottom of this path, cement pipes have been laid. No permission was obtained from the authorities for this. The public staged a protest against this encroachment. As a result, the petitioners were arrested by the police in a criminal case. Therefore, it was stated that an order should be issued to remove the encroachments in the catchment area.”
Following this, the judges issued the order: The company that has set up the solar power plant has laid pipes on the shore without obtaining permission from the government. As a result, people petitioned the government administration to take action. When no action was taken, the people themselves removed them. This action cannot be justified, but how long can people wait? If the government does not fulfill the demand, people will indeed protest.
How can one complain when the machinery of authority has failed and the people act on their own? It is unjust to keep the two arrested men in prison any longer. The people may have taken the law into their own hands. But it cannot be denied that they damaged only what had been set up illegally.
Therefore, the Sivaganga Principal Sessions Court must hold a special sitting at 11 a.m. on Sept. 12 (today) to hear and decide the bail petitions of Natarajan and Xavier Kennedy. This petition will be taken up again for hearing in the evening of the same day. This is what the judges have stated in their order.